Multi-species aquaculture discussed in Canada
About 50 people attended a workshop held in Nanaimo last week, where two Canadian initiatives to conduct research into multi-species aquaculture were described and discussed. One project in New Brunswick on the East Coast of Canada is growing blue mussels and kelp adjacent to a conventional salmon farm. Growth of both the mussels and the kelp was better at this facility than on control sites, showing that some of the waste from the salmon farm was being taken up by these organisms.
In British Columbia, the Pacific SEA-Lab Research Society has set up a facility on the West Coast of Vancouver Island near the village of Kyuquot. Operating what is dubbed as a Sustainable Ecological Aquaculture (SEA) System, the Society is training students from the University of Victoria in the various aspects of Integrated, Multi-Throphic Aquaculture. The first of its kind in B.C., the single site is licenced to produce 11 different species, from Sablefish (Black cod), Scallops and Mussels to sea cucumbers and kelps.
The Pacific SEA-Lab currently has Sablefish, Scallops and kelp at the site. This location was never used for aquaculture purposes before this initiative, thus enabling the researchers to obtain a detailed set of baseline data for environmental parameters. Laboratory studies are currently under way to assess the uptake by sea cucumbers of waste from farmed Sablefish, and the technology of housing sea cucumbers under the net pens with Sablefish is being developed.
